Winding machine



April 29 1941.

E. J. ABBOTT 2,239,689

' WINDING MACHINE Original FiledQct. 29, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet lv April 29, 1941. E. J. ABBOTT WINDING MACHINE Original Filed Oct. 29, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 l (1.7255, 22 WMMQ/MZ .wfys',

jwvzior ara? Patented Apr. 29, 1941 7 2,239,689 WINDING MACHINE Edward J. Abbott, Wilton, N. H., ass'ignor to Abbott Machine Company, Wilton, N. H., a corporation of New Hampshire Original application October 29, 1935, Serial No. 47,247. Divided and this application July 29,

. 1938, Serial No. 221,949

9 Claims.

This application is a division of my application Serial No; 47,247 filed October 29, 1935, now Patent Number 2,157,105, and relates to machines for winding strand material such as yarn or other filaments. Application Serial No. 47,247, my prior application Serial No. 476,776 filed August 21, 1930, now Patent Number 2,135,485, and my United States Patent No. 1,911,047. disclose winding machines in which the spindle or other element for holding the winding package is mounted on a pivoted arm which swings, about its pivot to permit the package to rise as it grows in diameter, the pivoted arm having connected thereto a lifter rod which serves to swing the package-carrying arm upwardly and forwardly about its pivot when the winding yarn breaks or exhausts and when the traveling winding unit reaches the end of the machine. The pivot about which the package-carrying arm swings is located on the outer or operators side of the unit so that when the package is swung upwardly away from the drive roll it also moves outwardly to a more convenient position for attention by the operator.

Among the objects of the present invention are to provide a mechanism utilizing the lifter rod of a winding machine to urge the winding package down into firm contact with the package driv ing roll; to accomplish this by means of a spring so as to avoid the use of a heavy weight; and to cause the force of the spring to cease to be applied downwardly to the lifter rod after the package-carrying arm has been swung upwardly to a certain extent.

A further object is to provide mechanism for utilizing the force of the spring which initially urges the package into contact with the drive roll subsequently to retain the package in its elevated inactive position so that the raised package will be steadied so that it can be unlocked and removed or handled and turned by the operator without likelihood of the package, or package-holding arm accidently being dropped to the winding position.

Another object is to provide mechanism which I can be adjusted when desired to prevent the spring from acting to urge the package into contact with the drive roll, while permitting the spring to function in steadying the package in its raised position.

Other objects of invention and features of advantage and utility will be apparent from this specification and its drawings in whichth'e invention is explained by reference to'a'preferred embodiment thereof; 7

In the drawings:

Fig. l is a vertical section through one side of a multiple winding machine, showing one of its winding units in side elevation; and

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the unit of Fig. 1, with the package in its raised position, and with certain parts removed for clarity of illustration.

The invention is shown by way of example as applied to a multiple winding machine of the type disclosed in United States Patent No. 1,911,- 047, in which a plurality of winding packages are moved in a circulatory path, a preferred form of package-driving means comprising the drive roll I I shown in Figs, 1 and 2, Each winding package I2 is carried by a unit indicated generally by the reference numeral l3 (Fig. 1) adapted to travel along the upper rail M of the machine frame. The general construction of this unit isthe same as a unit of the machine of said Letters Patent and will-not here be described in detail except to point out that the units of the machine illustrated herewith have been altered so as to adapt them to travel in a clockwise direction around the machine, thus to move past the operator from right to left. This involves pivotally mounting the package-carrying arm l5 at the point I6 at the right-hand side of the traveling unit 13, and corresponding change in position of the lifterrod 16 and its associated stop mechanism.

In the drawings, the machine is shown as including the special form of spindle and'cone holderwhich is the subject matter of the parent patent application Serial No. 47,247, but this construction of spindle and cone holder will not be further described in this application except to point out that it is carried by the swinging package-carrying arm l5, and that in Fig. 2 the cone holder is shown as equipped with a coneunlocking handle 68. When the package is in the elevated position of Fig. 2, the operator can unlock the cone from its holder by a slight-turning motion of the handle 68.

The package-carrying arm I5 swings about its pivot W as the package grows, and swings still further about its pivot to carry the package out of contact with the drive roll H to stop winding and position the package for attention by the operator. Means for causing this latter motion of the package-carrying arm may, for example, include a dog i8, carried in an enlarged head It] of a horizontal shaft 20, and adapted to strike in passing and be rotated by a long pin 2| extending from the rail 14, thus to turn the shaft 20 and a crank 23 to raise the lifter-rod l6. Such trise'of the lifter-rod results in swinging the package-carrying arm I5 counterclockwise in Fig. 1 until the stop 25 strikes the portion 21 of the unit frame, as indicated in Fig. 2. Before reaching the long pin 2|, the packages of some of the units may have already been raised into this same position by the lifter-rod being similarly actuated by the breakage and exhaustion detector which is constructed and operates as described in the said patent application Serial No. 476,776.

Swinging of the package to its elevated position,

out of contact with the drive roll ll, removes the winding strand S from the reciprocating eye 26 of the traverse device and leaves the strand hanging down from the raised package in convenient position to be taken by the operator. The raised package is, moreover, conveniently situated for the operator to find a broken or exhausted end of strand which has been wound thereon. The front of the unit, that is, the left side of the unit in Fig. 1, is nearest the operator, who usually is seated at one end of the elongated closed path of travel of the units; and the outward swing of the package-carrying arm l5 andpackage I2 is relied upon to bring the package and strand into convenient reach of the operator.

It is preferred to provide for applying to the package, during winding, an additional pressure other than resulting from the meter Weight of the relatively light arm I5 and its associated parts, and finally when the package is sufliciently far from the drive roll, to restrain the package in its upward and outward position. For these purposes, the invention provides on the crank arm 23 of the lifter mechanism an extension 10 carrying at its outer extremity a rearwardly extending roller ll adapted to engage under a downwardly pressing strip spring 12 which is mounted on the frame of the winding unit. The extension 10 constitutes in effect the first arm of a bell-crank of which the crank arm 23 is the second arm. When the package is raised from the roll by the stop mechanism, the resulting movement of the crank 23 carries the roller H past a vertical dead center, so that the force of the spring 72 ceases to be applied downwardly on L the lifter-rod, "but acts upwardly on the lifterrod and restrains the package against returning to the drive roll. In this position the package is thus steadied so that it can conveniently be unlocked by turning the handle 68 without any likelihood of its being accidentally swung back to the winding position. The invention thus permits the spring 12 to operate to urge the lifterrod downwardly in the lower positions of the lifter-rod, and upwardly in the upper positions thereof. v

To enable the spring pressure to be dispensed with when desired during Winding, and to be employed only for the purpose of restraining the raised inactive package, the frame of the winding unit is preferably provided with a latch for the spring, adapted to be set to hold the spring in an elevated position such that it will engage the roller H only when the package has been raised. In Fig. 2 such latch is indicated in the form of a short strip of steel 11 mounted on the frame by a single screw 18. In the position indicated in Fig. 2, this latch 'I'l renders the spring 12 inoperative in the winding positions of the package, but by turning the latch 11 90 about the axis of the screw 18, the spring is enabled to act on the roller 'H in all positions of the package, for' example in the position indicated in It should be understood that the present disclosure is for the purpose of illustration only and that this invention includes all modifications and equivalents which fall within the scope of the appended claims.

Iclaim:

1. A winding machine having therein a rotary frictional package-driving element, a swinging package-carrying arm, a lifter rod and mechanism adapted to act through the lifter rod to swing the package-carrying arm and thereby raise the package from the package-driving element, a crank having operative connection with the lifter rod, and a spring acting on the crank to urge the lifter rod down during winding, said crank having engagement with the spring past the dead center of the crank when [the lifter rod is raised to remove the package from the driving element, thereby to resist return of the package to the driving element.

2. A winding machine having therein a rotary package-driving element, a swinging packagecarrying arm, a lifter rod and mechanism adapted to act through the lifter rod to swing the package-carrying arm and thereby raise the package from the package-driving element, a spring, and means interposed between the spring and the lifter rod to apply the force of the spring to the lifter rod in a direction to urge the winding package into contact with the driving element when winding, and in the opposite direction to resist return of the package to the drive element whilethe package is raised therefrom.

3. A winding machine having therein a rotary package-driving element, a swinging packagecarrying arm, a lifter rod connected to :the package-carrying arm so that, in rising, the lifter rod swings the package carrying arm and thereby raises the pack-age from the package-driving element, means adapted to raise the lifter rod, 2. spring and means interposed between the spring and the lifter rod for transmitting the force of the spring to the lifter rod in a downward direction until but not after the package has swung upwardly to a certain extent.

4. A winding machine having therein a rotary package-driving element, a swinging packagecarrying arm, a lifter rod connected to the package-carrying arm so that, in rising, the lifter rod swings the package-carrying arm and thereby raises the package from the package-driving element, means adapted to raise the lifter rod, a spring and means interposed between the spring and the lifter rod for transmitting the force of the spring to the lifter rod in a downward direction until the package has swung upwardly to a certain extent and for thereafter transmitting the force of the spring to the lifter rod in an upward direction.

5. A winding machine having therein a rotary package-driving element, a swinging packagecarrying arm, a lifter rod and mechanism adapted to act through the lifter rod to swing the package-carrying arm and thereby raise the package from the package-driving element, a spring, and a bell-crank, the first arm of which is subject to the downward action of the spring and the second arm of which is connected to the lifter rod, the bell-crank and spring being so positioned with relation to each other that during rise of the lifter rod, the first arm of the crank reaches dead center with relation to the action of the spring thereon.

6. A winding machine having therein a rotary package-driving element, a swinging packagecarrying arm, a lifter rod connected to the package-carrying arm so that, in rising, the lifter rod swings the package-carrying arm and thereby raises the package from the package-driving element, means adapted to raise the lifter rod, a spring, means interposed between the spring and the lifter rod to apply the force of the spring to the lifter rod in a direction to urge the winding package into contact with the :driving element, and means for restraining the spring from acting upon said last-named means.

7. A winding machine having therein a rotary package-driving element, a swinging packageicarrying arm, a lifter rod connected to the package-carrying arm so that, in rising, the lifter rod swings the package-carrying arm and thereby raises the package from the package-driving element, means adapted to raise the lifter rod, a spring, a bell-crank inter-posed between the spring and the lifter rod to apply the force of the spring to the lifter rod in a direction to urge the wind ing package into contact with the driving element. and a latch adapted to be moved into position to restrain the spring from acting upon the bell-crank.

8. A winding machine having therein a rotary package-driving element, a swinging packagecarrying arm, a lifter rod having an up and down movement and adapted upon its upward movement to swing the package-carrying arm and thereby raise the package from the package-driving element to an elevated position, mechanism for raising the lifter rod, and means including a spring for urging the lifter rod upwardly only in the upper positions thereof.

9. A winding machine having therein a rotary package-driving element, a swinging packagecarrying arm, a lifter rod having an up and down movement and adapted upon its upward movement to swing the package-carrying arm and thereby raise the package from the package-driving element to an elevated position, mechanism for raising the lifter rod, and means including a spring for urging the lifter rod downwardly in the lower positions thereof and upwardly in the upper positions thereof.

EDWARD J. ABBOTT. 

